Sulfur Stalker 5 (15)

High Noon at Midnight

Dwelling in steaming, acidic hot springs, sulfur stalkers' umbral, scaled bodies can reach lengths of 10 or more feet (3 m). Their broad, flat heads feature wide, gaping mouths filled with rows of sharp teeth. Feathery tendrils fringe their heads, twining and stretching as if of their own accord. Powerful clawed limbs and an eel like tail mean they're equally adept on land and in liquid—even boiling hot, acrid springs. The overpowering smell of sulfur—like rotten eggs—precedes and follows them.

Sulfur stalkers periodically emerge from their pools and migrate long distances, presumably to mate. During this migration, they grow ravenously hungry, preying on anything. They also drag away people, which they feed to their newly hatched young.

Motive: Defense, gather food for newly hatched young

Environment: Anywhere near hot springs, or anywhere during seasons of migration

Health: 21

Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (6 points)

Armor: 2 (5 against fire; immune to acid)

Movement: Short; swims a short distance each round

Modifications: Speed defense as level 4 due to size; stealth as level 6

Combat: Sulfur stalkers bite.

Additional sulfur stalker abilities include one or more of the following.

• Tendril Aura. Any creature that begins their turn within immediate range of a sulfur stalker must succeed on a Speed defense roll or be grazed by a feathery tendril for a minor wound (3 points) from dripping acid.
• Acid Geyser. A boiling hot acid stream sprays all creatures in a short range line, dealing 9 points of damage on a failed Speed defense roll, and 2 points of damage even if successful. (The sulfur stalker can't make this attack more than once every few minutes.)
• Regrow. If damaged, a sulfur stalker regains 2 health each round on any round it hasn't taken damage from cold or magic. This ability is so pernicious that an entirely new sulfur stalker could grow from a severed portion.

Interaction: Sulfur stalkers have a language, and some can speak human tongues, especially those that have made deals with locals. Such deals usually involve turning over some number of other people each year for the stalker to eat—culled from a local jail, taken in outlaw raids, etc.

Use: A bounty for sulfur stalker eggs is so generous that folks everywhere begin hunting. This riles up the local stalker population, who begin attacking towns and homesteads preemptively.

Loot: Because sulfur stalkers tend to capture people to feed their young, cast off belongings can sometimes be found in their nests—which are well hidden locations near hot springs, but not under them. In addition, a nest might contain an egg or two, each equal in value to an expensive item.

GM Intrusion: A severed segment of a sulfur stalker animates as a half-size, level 3 sulfur stalker that attacks the character. The stalker might have to bite off its tail to start this process